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No Pencil? No Problem: Dealing With Unprepared Students

August 21, 2014

Tired of purchasing writing utensils for your students? Tired of wasting time while a student sharpens the pencil you just gave them or that they got from a friend? At Staples for $8.99 you can get a box of 144 golf pencils. That is about 6 cents a pencil. They come pre-sharpened so no sharpener noise will disrupt class when you hand one of these out.

But there is no eraser! And they are so small! Well that is the point. While I give these to my students for free, no one wants a golf pencil, which means they will look a little harder in their book bag or ask a friend or two before asking me for one. I also keep a cup of "found" writing utensils (pencils, pens that students leave behind) and students can return their golf pencils there. My students know to look there first before asking me for one.

I also sell pencils (that I have already sharpened, can you tell I hate the noise of the sharpener?) and pens to my students for 25 cents each. But I have to have something for students who are unprepared and don't have any money to spend, so golf pencils it is. I will occasionally hold their ID in exchange for a pen or full pencil but then there is the hassle of returning the ID and making sure you get the pen or pencil back.

How do you handle writing supplies for students who are unprepared in your classroom?

My students have become woefully unprepared for class the past two years. For the prior 14 years, I was able to scavenge enough pencils off the floor for my students to keep, but the pickings have been very slim for the past year or two. I believe students are coming with less supplies than in the past. Therefore, I purchased two boxes of golf pencils out of my budget for the upcoming year.